The Government assesses climate risks through the Climate Change Risk Assessment process. Climate change is expected to result in warmer and wetter winters, hotter and drier summers, and more frequent and intense weather patterns.

Our diverse and resilient food system, supported by domestic production and international trade, has historically responded well to localised production shocks. There is currently no indication that UK food security is at risk.

The Government is investing £10.5 billion in flood resilience between 2024 and 2036 to construct new flood and coastal erosion schemes and repair existing defences. Defra is strengthening its resource on wildfire and supporting MHCLG as the lead government department for wildfire through a cross-government programme of work covering risk assessment, prevention, preparedness, response and recovery. The Government is strengthening climate adaptation to ensure robust plans are in place to be resilient to a minimum of 2 degrees of global warming by 2050.

The Government is taking action to support farmers that are facing pressure from this summer’s exceptionally dry conditions. This includes temporary adjustments to Environmental Land Management (ELM) agreements, so farmers affected by drought can continue to receive payments and take practical steps to protect livestock, crops and land; an increase in funding for Sustainable Farming Incentive 2026 Window 2; and action and funding to support building reservoirs.

Defra is also building greater long-term resilience to climate shocks, in line with the Farming Roadmap’s commitments.

In addition, Defra funded allocated £13.5 million through its farm surplus fund to help redistribution charities work with farmers in England to ensure more surplus fresh produce gets to those who need it most.

Network Rail uses a combination of proactive monitoring and investment in smart technologies to protect critical infrastructure and keep the railway running during periods of hot weather.

For safety reasons, during periods of extreme weather, trains operate at reduced speeds and to amended timetables, meaning journeys will take longer and be at risk of potential delays, cancellations, and last-minute alterations. Departmental officials, Network Rail and the wider rail industry worked together to assess and manage the impacts of the extreme heat and, as a result of the rail industry’s preparedness, approximately 82 per cent of planned services ran between 24-26 June.

Passengers who hold a valid ticket and are delayed because of disruption are entitled to claim Delay Repay from their train operator up to 28 days after their journey. Train operators are responsible for ensuring that information on disruption and compensation is communicated clearly and in a timely manner.

We recognise the disproportionate impact repeated, preventable exclusion can have on pupils’ education and life chances. The findings published by ADR UK in April 2026 underline the importance of tackling repeat suspensions and ensuring vulnerable pupils receive the support they need to remain engaged in education.

To reduce lost learning, improve behaviour and strengthen inclusion, the Every Child Achieving and Thriving Schools White Paper, published February 2026, committed to reforming the exclusion system. We will consult on a new national framework for internal suspension, the introduction of Reintegration Support Partnerships and a requirement for schools to set schoolwork during the first five days of exclusion.

The UK and EU are working together to support the development of clean energy technologies; the Electricity Agreement will cover the promotion of renewables, and the May 2025 Common Understanding welcomed continued technical and regulatory exchanges on new energy technologies.

The Government is committed to ensuring that the new social media restrictions are effective in practice and deliver meaningful protections for children. Through the ‘Growing up in the Online World’ consultation, the government sought views and evidence on circumvention and the measures that could be used to address it.

The Government is carefully considering the consultation responses and will set out its approach to addressing circumvention in its full response shortly.

The primary goal of the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) is to ensure that children receive the financial support they are entitled to. To achieve this, the CMS collaborates with HMRC and Benefit systems to accurately calculate maintenance payments. This collaboration helps prevent paying parents from misrepresenting their income. Parents can make a request to the CMS to have other forms of income not previously considered included in the maintenance calculation.

To tackle fraudulent reporting of earnings, if there is a suspicion of income misrepresentation, the Financial Investigations Unit (FIU) will conduct a thorough investigation. Complex income and cases where a paying parent may be responsible for declaring their own income can also be investigated by the FIU. This specialist team can request information from financial institutions to check the accuracy of information the CMS is given. When an investigation identifies evidence of criminal offences, the FIU will submit their findings to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) to consider prosecution on offences contrary to the Child Support Act 1991.

The Government is committed to improving access to mental health services for children and young people, and to ensuring a system that is simpler, faster, and stronger at every stage. Access to support is expanding, but services remain under pressure, and poor mental health and neurodevelopmental conditions can affect young people's education, training, and employment outcomes. We recognise the pressures on services, including long waits and variation in access, but we are taking action to strengthen the whole pathway, from early support in schools and communities through to specialist services for those with the most complex needs.

In April to June 2025 there were 374,000 people aged 16 to 64 years old with depression, bad nerves, or anxiety as a main health condition who were economically inactive due to long-term sickness. For autism and severe or specific learning difficulties, there were 178,000 and 68,000 people, respectively. There were 727,000 people who were economically inactive due to long-term sickness with a mental health condition, of which 216,000, or 30%, were aged 16 to 34 years old.

The Young People and Work: Interim Report is clear that this is a long-term, structural challenge rather than the result of any one recent change. It reflects a combination of factors, including weaker transitions into work, rising health-related inactivity, and a system that has too often failed to intervene early enough. That is why the Government is taking a cross-Government approach, acting across employment, education, skills, and health. In parallel, the Department has commissioned an independent review of the prevalence and support for mental health conditions, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and autism, which will inform a new cross-Government Mental Health Strategy for England.

The Cabinet Office awarded Capita the contract to administer the Civil Service Pension Scheme in November 2023 under the previous government. The current delays facing scheme members are entirely unacceptable, and this Government has taken firm action to resolve them through a clear recovery plan with strict delivery milestones. We have deployed additional resources to expedite priority cases, ensuring that serving and former staff receive the high standard of service they deserve. Regular progress updates remain available to members via the pension portal and GOV.UK.

We are making Capita work to restore, to contractual levels, administration of the Civil Service Pension Scheme following its failed transition in December last year. Capita committed to restoring the service by the end of June. The Government is now undertaking a comprehensive assessment of the latest data provided by Capita post the end of June commitment.

We remain committed to holding Capita accountable. Should underperformance occur and the agreed firm end of June deadline not be met, the Government will not hesitate to take firm action, all commercial levers will be used and all options will be considered.

I can confirm that when the scheme administrator receives an application from a member suffering from serious ill health, they should be prioritising these cases as a matter of urgency and look to resolve them.

Capita were initially instructed to prioritise and clear the most urgent cases such as Death in Service and Ill-Health during February and March. While Capita previously assured us that performance standards for Death in Service and Ill-Health were being met by mid-March, recent information continues to demonstrate unacceptable delays in some ill-health retirement and death-in-service cases. We have urgently escalated this to Capita, who are actively investigating the underlying data and reasons for these continued delays.

Most AI systems are already regulated at the point of use by our existing expert regulators. The ICO has recently closed a consultation on their draft guidance about automated decision-making, including profiling.

Government has previously published Responsible AI in Recruitment guidance which sets out good practice procuring and deploying AI systems for HR and recruitment. This guidance highlights the mechanisms that can be used to ensure the safe and trustworthy use of AI in recruitment.

We have also recently launched the Early Careers Jobs Alliance to bring together employers, trade unions and young people to look at how to ensure there continues to be high quality routes into work in sectors highly exposed to AI. The Alliance will start with a focus on the Digital and Technologies sector and will be co-chaired by Prospect’s General Secretary Mike Clancy and the government’s AI Champion for the Digital and Technologies sector, Katie Gallagher OBE.

The European Partnership Bill will provide the necessary powers to deliver treaties with the European Union now and in the future. Parliament will have the opportunity to scrutinise the Bill when it is introduced to Parliament in the usual way.

The European Partnership Bill will provide the necessary powers to deliver treaties with the European Union now and in the future. Parliament will have the opportunity to scrutinise the Bill when it is introduced to Parliament in the usual way.

I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave to the Hon. Member for Ceredigion Preseli on 26 May 2026 to Question 1677.

It has not proved possible to respond to the hon. Member in the time available before Prorogation.

Every asylum claim admitted to the UK asylum system is carefully considered on its individual merits, in line with published policies. There are clear processes in place for prioritising asylum claims on the basis of vulnerability in line with our published guidance available at: Asylum decision making prioritisation: caseworker guidance - GOV.UK.

Biomass electricity generators receiving support must comply with strict sustainability criteria covering supply chain greenhouse gas emissions. The government is developing a cross-sector biomass sustainability framework to further strengthen these requirements and enable consistency between government supported sectors.

Waste incineration facilities are regulated through the relevant environmental permitting regime, which sets emissions limits and monitoring requirements. The government is committed to expanding the scope of the UK Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) to waste incineration. This will price emissions from the sector and incentivise decarbonisation. The UK ETS Authority will set out final policy design in due course.